


i'm about to put in work

by TheHarleyQueen



Category: Z-O-M-B-I-E-S (2018)
Genre: Fantastic Racism, Gen, I'm a Slut for Disney Chanel Original Movies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-14
Updated: 2018-07-14
Packaged: 2019-06-10 06:58:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 636
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15286206
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheHarleyQueen/pseuds/TheHarleyQueen
Summary: Fight the good fight, stand up for what’s right.God, he hoped he could. If he settled for the discrimination hurled at his people, kill him where he stood. It may be his year, but he’d make sure it was his friend’s year too.A one-shot about racism in Z-O-M-B-I-E-S.





	i'm about to put in work

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [this is the beat of my heart](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14066844) by [fistitout](https://archiveofourown.org/users/fistitout/pseuds/fistitout). 



> Disney Chanel Original Movies are my crack. Seriously. 
> 
> The naming traditions were created by [fistitout ](https://archiveofourown.org/users/fistitout/pseuds/fistitout)in _this is the beat of my heart_. All other language I plugged into google translate and played around with it until it sounded cool.

* * *

 

 

The Seabrook High School library’s books had been graffitied. And no one was talking about it, for a very obvious reason. Someone (a  _ zombie _ ) had taken a green pen to the books on racial segregation, scribbled the word “ _ zombie” _ above every mention of people of colour or African Americans, and changed the dates. It made an ugly point.

It had been a compromise between Zebala ( _ who was currently going by Zed because the people of Seabrook- students and teachers alike- claimed his name was too difficult to pronounce _ ), whose current stance on a revolution was more “ _ you want a revolution, I want a revelation”  _ and Elizska, (who was refusing to be called “Eliza”, even though that was what it said on her { _ human-created _ } birth certificate), who was at the moment very much in the “ _ I’m past patiently waiting, I’m passionately smashing every expectation _ ” phase of her revolution.

 

And no one at Seabrook was talking about it, because that meant addressing the fact that none of the  _ changed _ facts were wrong. It also meant addressing the other graffiti, the “ _ know _ ” written over anti-zombie signs and the  _ Keep Seabrook Alive _ signs that the zombies kept, hung up on the fence of  _ yükorJ  _ { _ their word for sanctuary. Everyone else called it  _ **_Zombieland_ ** }, covered with phrases that the teen zombies scribbled when they were particularly angry { _ when they’d been told they couldn’t join the football team or the art club,  or when, three years ago, Bonzo had been told his grade wasn’t high enough for him to be taught English _ }.

 

“They’re just too scared to face the truth that they’re the bad guys,” Zed told Elizska comfortingly when they returned to the basement. She rolled her eyes.

 

“We need a revolution, Zebala. It’s just a fact. Tell him, Bobala. Tell him he’s full of  _ kivdž _ ,” Bonzo just shrugged in his direction, agreeing. He may only have understood one word in the sentence, but it was most assuredly true { _ not to mention, Elizska had been tapping out what she was saying in their private form of morse code- what they used to ensure that Bonzo was always up-to-date in a conversation. She and Zed were masters, at this point _ }.

 

“Baby steps, Elizska, baby steps. An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind,” he told her, scratching at his  _ ømgana  _ ( _ pl.: ømganæ, meaning  _ **_manacle_ ** _. Seabrook doctors just called it the Z-Band _ ).

 

“ _ gån z _ _ Ø _ ,” she responded, “ _ stop _ . It hurts worse when you do that. They told us that it health class.”

 

Under his breath, Bonzo commented, “za møn et allerande kivd Ž .”  _ In the midst of all the other shit _ . And he wasn’t wrong. Zed stopped touching the ømgana. Instead, he turned back to the single library book he’d kept from their little excursion out of the basement.  Zombie Rulez: A History of the AG-879-Z Laws it was possible the most  _ låruåphobic _ (Elizska’s own word, taken from the latin  _ larua _ , meaning  _ wraith _ ) title Zed had ever seen in his life, but it was interesting- “Hey, listen to this.  _  Bylaw 247 of the AG-879-Z Laws  _ says that  _ all infected persons above the age of nine years are to  be tried as full human adults _ .”

 

Elizska didn’t even look up from her computer, “Get back to me when you have something new. Literally everyone knows that.”

 

“ _ u nixt ẹ glɐZ, _ ” Zed told her, “ _ unless they are spoken for by a human adult. _ ”

 

“Except, there’s no  _ q̣̈veanặ  _ way any adult in this town would support a  _ zombie _ ,” Elizska reminded him before her eyes softened ( _ only slightly _ ).

 

“ _ Zebala _ . I know you’re scared for Zoeyska, but don’t get false hope.  _ åy ixt nixt zƙondr ȷåN _ .”

 

Zed slumped over in his chair, worrying about his sister, his friends, the rest of his life.

 

{ _ Because realistically, equality isn’t achieved in a cheering match and a block party _ }.

 

**Author's Note:**

> TRANSLATIONS:
> 
> kivdž - shit  
> gån zØ - stop  
> u nixt ẹ glɐZ - you didn’t let me finish  
> q̣̈veanặ - fuck/fucking  
> åy ixt nixt zƙondr ȷåN - hope is nothing without concrete


End file.
